Out to Lunch

I just thought this one was cute. Sorry to get your hopes up, but it’s not an out-take from part six!

She doesn’t look to impressed, does she?

She’s probably scowling at my terrible screenshots

YAY! I finally got it!

Hehe, I’ve been having lots of fun with this… well maybe not as much as with Nightlife, but still

Ash and Melissa having some fun with the guitar

“Take that! And that!”

“Me too, me too!”

“Yow ow ow! Ay carumba, my foot’s on fire!”

YaY! They are sitting down and talking! Mind you, I had to use a hack for this. I still don’t know how to do it without. Anyone?!

I really have no excuse not to finish those stories now!

But I’m too lazy!!

“Why, Jasmine, you’re gorgeous!”

… then you have a long wait ahead of you, my friend! I do have a lot of the shots and most of the text written (boy, is this chapter going to be long!) but - ARGH! there’s one scene where I need to get the four of them all sitting down and I think you need Uni to get them to do that. Yes, I KNOW that you can tell them to watch the clouds and then move them with moveobjects on, but that is SO tedious and getting it synchronised is too hard! I’m going to root through the various pose hacks, but none of the sitting poses I’ve tried so far are satisfactory.

So it looks like part six will not be ready until the middle of December at the earliest. Heh heh

My game is behaving again, at least. I hold my hands up. It was entirely my own fault for playing in windowed mode.

You haven’t met Angel yet. She’s one of Jasmine’s old punk rocker friends from her teenage years and she makes a guest appearance in part six.

Actually, she looks more like a goth than a punk rocker

A shot of Saffron looking all cute and girly… awwww!

No, I don’t know what they’re doing here either…

All I say is…

I’m sick of it. The game did end its long run of well-behavedness with the blue screen of death that day. And it did it again yesterday after just TWO screenshots. Two! I ask you!

So I thought I’d give Fraps a try, you never know, I may have more luck with that. I had a practice run with BodyShop and it bluescreened on the FIRST take. BodyShop has never bluescreened on me, ever. So another avenue explored, and another dead end encountered. I’m starting to think, I may not even be able to finish my stories off. At least, not with pictures, and until I get a graphics card, which, let’s face it, may not be for months and months.

Bill Gates has a lot to answer for. EA better make a Linux-compatible version of Sims 3. All I’m saying is, they better.

It had to happen, didn’t it? I’ve started shooting what scenes I have for part 6 and after my long run of good luck, my game decided it’s had enough of being well-behaved and bluescreened on me. But for once, instead of tantruming, I did actually laugh. Stupid bluescreen!

Hmm, what’s going on here?

Well, I’m about 1/3 through writing part 6 of Raindrops. And I must say it’s just as well I cut part 5 short when I did, or it really would have been longer than chapter 2! The first scene alone has taken up over 20 pages. And the screenshots! Oh don’t get me started! They were even harder to make interesting than chapter 5’s! I dunno, I think my writing skill’s gone into terminal decline, my mind is a blanket right now. I have an idea of what I’m going to write, but finding the words is hard, I think I just need a break.

And for some reason the make out interaction no longer works! The only culprit I can think of is a Squinge hack, so I’ve disabled that, but currently am too lazy to check if it’s fixed. *gack* It’s not like I can even reinstall the game if it’s screwed up!

Edit: It was the Squinge hack. *Big sigh of relief*

Nouk will tell you:

EA is censoring info like this, it will not be found on their main Sims2 Page! But why, you may ask?

Well, because they installed SecuROM (anti piracy software) without the user’s consent, and it is causing huge problems they don’t wish to own up to. Instead, they deny the existence of these problems, calling them unfounded basically calling their own clients liars.

EA has been actively deleting threads at the official forum of people trying to inform other users about what SecuROM is, what it does, and that it has been illegallly installed on your computer.

Visit Noukiesims2 for the rest!

The How-to-remove-it thread @ MATY

More excellent info on why T$R doesn’t deserve your money, by Money Better Spent.

Link: Why Not Pay?

Et l’extract:

Leilatigress actually sat down with three members of the EA Legal team on August 27, 2007. This is available at PMBD but for those that don’t want to go look over there, it is posted here too. I asked her to cover a few topics, and here are the replies:

Q. EULA changes: TSR’s making a big deal over the removal of the word ‘noncommerical’ in the EULA for the content manager; is this a permanent change for all EPs/Bodyshop/Homecrafter?
A. It is a permanent change for Bodyshop and Homecrafter it is not going to be in any EPs. Turned right back around and said the EULA for Bon Voyage would match Seasons.

Q. Filesharing: It’s been suggested that the only problem EA has with PMBD is that we have adult content (Pandora/M&M/etc), and therefore they don’t want our link on the Exchange. However, there’s also a rumor that EA will stop PMBD/SFV filesharing altogether - in essence saying that paysites DO own their content. What’s the real story?
A. EA has nothing against filesharing since they have the exchange which promotes filesharing. They ignored the rest of that question.

Q. The various statements from tech suport/customer support/EA legal - obviously, there’s conflict. Some of it’s Maxoid issues, some of it’s ancient ties to TSR back when they were free. So what’s the story? WHO has final say?
A. Unless it’s signed by an EA Legal team member they have no say and are not held to be responsible for anything or anyone, EA Legal says.

Q. Obviously, the big thing we want is ANY clear statement - paysites good, paysites bad, filesharing good, filesharing bad, or ‘we don’t give a rat’s ass what happens in the fan community”.
A. Filesharing good, paysites bad was the statement I got and that is verbatim.

Hooray!

PS. EA is a joke

Quechua (kay-shwa) is the language of the indigenous people of the Andes, and the language of the Incan empire.

Funny Quechua jokes (with English translation)

My storytelling to-do list… Hmmm…

Aha! Looks like I’ve made some progress after all. And guess what? I’m still alive!

1. Get the screenshots for part 1 of Raindrops
2. Get the screenshots for part 2 of Raindrops - I am already losing the will to live
3. Redo some of the shots from part 3 of Raindrops
4. Redo some of the shots from part 4 of Raindrops
5. Get the screenshots for part 5 of Raindrops
6. Finish writing part 3 of Halfway Across - I feel rigor mortis kicking in
7. Take the screenshots for part 3 of Halfway Across
8. Write part 6 of Raindrops

Click the pic and see what happens

From now on, like your parents were, you are the secret force of Pole Position!

They’re movin’ real fast, they’re the only ones
Who can get there on time
They’re never too far behind, they’re always fighting crime

Up on the curve or a face in adventure in the danger zone
Pretty soon they’ll be off on a mission, come and watch them go!

Pole Posish-shu-un! What’s behind this stunt show?
Pole Posish-shu-un! What’s behind this stunt show
Pole Posish-shu-un! Only they’re on the road
Pole Posish-shu-un! Sit back and watch them go!

Heyo heyo heyo heyo heyo!

William William William!

(That’s not the review. I’m just too lazy to write one just now.)

Does anyone recognise her from somewhere..?

Wait a sec. I’m sure I’ve seen Marina someplace before too!

Lana’s story is actually packed full of quotes from various 80s cartoons, which is something no one but Tom actually picked up on! Here is the list of credits

• Ch2, Page 2: “So, you’re awake. I’m sorry if I frightened you, but they told me to keep an eye on you until you woke up. I’m Kevin. Here, take this.”

  From The Mysterious Cities of Gold. Tao to Zia: “So, you’re awake. I’m sorry if I frightened you, but I had to talk to you here, where we could be alone. Take this.”

• Ch2, Page 3: “Why, you’re aboard The Revenant. We had to teleport you up when Loft’s henchmen tried to get you.”

  From Captain N - The Game Master. Princess Lana to Kevin: “Why you’re in Videoland. The ultimate warp zone brought you here.”

• Ch2, Page 6: “You have to take me back! My parents will be worried.”

  From The Mysterious Cities of Gold. Zia to Tao: ‘Esteban will be worried, take me back!”

• Ch2, Page7: “The ancient legend foretold that you would restore freedom to our world”

  From Captain N - The Game Master. Princess Lana to Kevin: “The ancient legend spoke of your restoring freedom to our world.”

• Ch2, Page 7: “We were sure that one day, sooner or later, you’d come. We’ve been waiting for a long time.”

  From The Mysterious Cities of Gold. Tao to Zia: “I was sure that one day, sooner or later, you’d come. I’ve been waiting for a long time. I knew you’d come, I’ve known it, for years.”

• Ch2, Page 8:“Me restore freedom to your world? Hey I don’t even have my Leaving Cert yet! What am I supposed to do? And why do you keep calling me Princess?”

  From Captain N - The Game Master. Kevin to Princess Lana: “Me restore freedom to Videoland? Hey, I don’t even have my driver’s licence yet! And this is just a toy.”

• Ch2, Page 12: “Yumi here and her brother Numenor” and “Our planet is called Zartra”.

  From Ulysses 31. The name of the blue-skinned brother and sister from the planet Zartra.

• Ch2, Page 19: “If you don’t help us, Ra-Ra Loft will take over all of Zartra, and our freedom will be lost forever.”

  From Captain N - The Game Master. Princess Lana to Kevin: “If you don’t help us, Mother Brain will take over all of Videoland. And our freedom will be lost forever.”